Linux scripting question

qwertyiop · March 2011

I would like to create a shell or python script that will copy multiple directories one after the other and am not sure how to start.

for example
cp -au /home/user /backup
cp -au /home/user /backup
cp -au /tmp/ /backup

Please not that the source and destinations of my actual files will all be in different directories

qwertyiop · March 2011

Sorry for posting this in the wrong section.

jibbajabba · March 2011

Actually you could just add those lines into a file called

something.sh

then make it executable

chmod +x something.sh

and execute it

./something.sh

Dirty - but works

qwertyiop · March 2011

Gomjaba wrote: »

Actually you could just add those lines into a file called

something.sh

then make it executable

chmod +x something.sh

and execute it

./something.sh

Dirty - but works

Thanks for that. I have another question, In linux how could O script a check? By this I mean check if a directory exist and if not then make directory and continue on to the next step.

jibbajabba · March 2011

Not 100% sure, what I do is for example

TODAY_DATE=`date +%d%m%Y`
mkdir /backup/$TODAY_DATE

That creates a folder based on the current date. If the folder exists, it simply says

mkdir: cannot create directory `25032011': File exists

But continues with the operation .. Not sure if that is what you need though

lordy · March 2011

You should have a look at "man test". There are a bunch of these tests that you can run. Example:

if [ -d /tmp ]; then
  echo "/tmp exists"
fi

if [ -x /bin/true ]; then
  echo "/bin/true is executable"
fi

You can invert these checks by using !.

if [ ! -z /etc/motd ]; then
  echo "/etc/motd is NOT empty"
fi

PS: The message filter on this board sukcs. You cannot write "/etc/p a s s w d" in your post. Took 5 minutes of my precious time to figure that out...

qwertyiop · March 2011

lordy wrote: »
You should have a look at "man test". There are a bunch of these tests that you can run. Example:
if [ -d /tmp ]; then
  echo "/tmp exists"
fi

if [ -x /bin/true ]; then
  echo "/bin/true is executable"
fi
You can invert these checks by using !.
if [ ! -z /etc/motd ]; then
  echo "/etc/motd is NOT empty"
fi
PS: The message filter on this board sukcs. You cannot write "/etc/p a s s w d" in your post. Took 5 minutes of my precious time to figure that out...

Thanks alot for your help, i really appreciate it.
I hope you can answer me one more question.

The first portion that you posted about checking if the /tmp exists. Thats exactly what im trying to do but id like it to execute a command if it is true. Is that possible and ifso how?

If that doesn't make much sense, in batch I would do something like this:
if exist c:\foo goto next
:next
copy c:\foo d:\backup

lordy · March 2011

It's easy. You can put anything between if and fi that you need. Example:

if [ -d /some/directory ]; then
  cp /some/directory/* /some/other/directory/
fi

qwertyiop · March 2011

lordy wrote: »
It's easy. You can put anything between if and fi that you need. Example:
if [ -d /some/directory ]; then
  cp /some/directory/* /some/other/directory/
fi

Am I correct to assume that if the directory above doesn't exist that it will skip to the next line in my script?

MentholMoose · March 2011

Yes. Check the man page for "test". For "-d" it says:

FILE exists and is a directory

qwertyiop · March 2011

thanks for your help

Linux scripting question

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